The minpack.error Exception seems to be impossible to get at (scipy 0.1,
but latest CVS minpackmodule.c seems similar at least).
Something to do with this, in minpackmodule.c, I guess:
minpack_error = PyErr_NewException ("minpack.error", NULL, NULL);
but I couldn't figure out from Python C API manual exactly what this
function is supposed to do.
John